First triplets with identical twins born to SA gay parents

A same-sex male couple in South Africa has become the first set of parents in the country to have triplets who share both the fathers' DNA.

Theo and Christo Menelaou used their sperm to fertilise one egg each, which were then carried by a surrogate. One of the eggs divided and the couple later became the father of triplets – two girls and a boy – in July. Two of the children are also identical twins.

'When you are gay, there is always the thought that it just may not be possible to be a parent no matter how much you would love to be,' Christo Menelaou told Sky News. 'It's very hard to be accepted for adoption and we were told we would always come after heterosexual couples. And then we just never thought we'd ever find a person who would want to be surrogate to a gay couple.'

According to Sky News, the Menelaous were also friends and neighbours with Oscar Pistorius and met the surrogate through a meeting of local residents following the former Paralympian's murder trial.

A court order was also required to confirm that the surrogacy arrangement was valid under South African law and that no payments other than expenses had been paid - the judge listed originally to do this was Judge Thokozile Masipa (who presided over the Pistorius trial), but was changed shortly before the hearing.

Dr Heidra Dahms, the doctor at Sunninghill Hospital who delivered the babies, told Sky News: 'It [the birth of triplets following same-sex surrogacy] is extremely rare. I have never heard of this before.'